Siobhan Morse & Nicole O'Donnell, Using Peers to Combat Stigma

Turns out, the most powerful tool against addiction stigma might just be someone society once gave up on.

Despite significant advancements in addiction treatment, stigma remains one of the greatest barriers to care for individuals struggling with substance use disorder (SUD). Among healthcare professionals, stigma can manifest in ways that impact patient outcomes, access to care, and overall recovery success. This episode will explore how leveraging peers—those with lived experience in recovery—can be a powerful tool in combating stigma in medical settings. We will discuss real-world applications of peer support, the latest statistics on stigma in healthcare, and actionable strategies for fostering a more compassionate approach to SUD treatment.

Learning Objectives

• Review the reality of stigma and its impact on healthcare
• Identify the role of peers in recovery and two major healthcare environments
• Identify strategies for integrating peers into the workforce

Key Takeaways

• Peer support can dramatically reduce stigma in healthcare by humanizing the recovery journey and modeling successful outcomes.
• Stigma among healthcare providers often stems from bias, not lack of evidence, making peer training and integration critical.
• Successful integration of peers requires clear role definitions, workflow systems, and true cultural acceptance across healthcare teams.

Timestamps

• [00:36] Why stigma is the biggest barrier to addiction treatment
• [03:55] Healthcare workers’ surprising views on MAT (medication-assisted treatment)
• [06:00] The personal cost of stigma: a real-life story
• [09:05] What is peer support and why it’s powerful
• [12:35] How peers dramatically increase treatment engagement
• [15:00] Peers working in emergency rooms: how it changes outcomes
• [18:45] Peers in primary care: building trust and continuity
• [22:15] Key steps to integrating peers into healthcare teams
• [26:40] Supervision and mentorship strategies for peer specialists
• [30:59] Lessons learned: how to really defeat stigma in healthcare

Links

• AMERSA
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); Office of the Surgeon General (US). Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services; 2016 Nov. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424857/

Find us online at amersa.org, and see our tweets at x.com/AMERSA_tweets.

Funding for this initiative was made possible by cooperative agreement no. 1H79TI086770 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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